‘JFK was planning $500 mn military aid package for India’

The package, which was shelved due to Kennedy’s assassination, also included an aid of $120 million to be equally split between the United States and Britain.

But India under Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru wanted an aid package of USD 1.3 billion.

Following intense negotiations between New Delhi and Washington, the two countries agreed on a military aid package of USD 500 million, former CIA official Bruce Riedel writes in his latest book.

The book “JFK’s Forgotten Crisis: Tibet, the CIA and the Sino-Indian War” scheduled to hit the <g data-gr-id="31">book stores</g> in November says that the final decision with regard to this massive military aid package to India was to be decided at a White House meeting with Kennedy on November 26, 1963.

“But Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas several days earlier,” Riedel writes.

According to the book, National Security Action Memorandum No 209, approved on December 10, <g data-gr-id="34">1962</g> by JFK, authorised the mew military aid package for India.

“The United States would -- assist in creating and equipping six new mountain divisions to work with the Indian Army to guard the Himalayas, help India increase its own production facilities, and prepare for a US-UK air <g data-gr-id="44">defense</g> programme for India,” the book says.

“The first two missions were to assist India develop its capabilities, and the third was joint <g data-gr-id="35">American British</g> military exercise in India,” Riedel said adding that Kennedy wanted the funding programme of USD 120 million to be split 50-50 with the United Kingdom and its Commonwealth partners.

Riedel writes that Nehru was disappointed with the proposed aid package.

“He wanted a much larger and more long-term package of military aid. In <g data-gr-id="42">May,</g> 1963 the new Indian minister for defence production, <g data-gr-id="41">T T</g> Krishnamachari, came to Washington and proposed an aid programme with a price tag of USD 1.3 billion to Kennedy,” Riedel wrote.

“Further discussions in New Delhi and Washington led to agreement on a USD 500 million programme over five years,” he wrote adding that before it could be announced Kennedy was assassinated.

In his book, Riedel observes that the final year of Kennedy’s administration saw a dramatic improvement in American relations with India in the military arena as well. In 1963, American, British, Australian and Canadian pilots were training in India on bombers and jet fighters supplied by those countries, he wrote. “Six Indian mountain divisions were being equipped by American and British arms, and a robust dialogue was underway on further military cooperation,” Riedel wrote.